Blending In

Not all faiths are created equal.

1 Corinthians 14:24 "But if all are teaching as prophets, and a man without faith or knowledge comes in, he is tested by all, he is judged by all; 25 The secrets of his heart are made clear; and he will go down on his face and give worship to God, saying that God is truly among you."

If there is a great debate among the faiths in the world about which is better, the world would prefer that Jesus remain upstairs, sitting next to Buddha, Muhammed, Moses, Bahá'u'lláh and the others. We are having grown-up talk down here thank you. But if something happens that tells us that God is in one place when we thought He should be in those other places, it ruins the debate. It is as if one of them had marched down from upstairs, turned over our tables, and said, "Listen to ME." Seems kinda rude.

The idea that all the faiths or religions are about the same is nonsense. Nothing in life is like that, be they religions or used cars. Some are just better than others. Of course they all should have a chance to make their point. They should appeal to others based on the merits of their ideas and the truth in what they say whether they come from the Bible, or the Bhagavad Gita. That is fair. But what if, while all are being fair, one shines brighter? For instance, Islam allows for the killing of those outside the faith who choose not to believe. Jesus told his disciples that if someone doesn't want to listen to them, leave (Matthew 10:14). So Jesus is better than Muhammed on that issue. Now, what if someone comes to a church and finds God there when He should be everywhere? Then all bets are off as to what happens next.

The miracles Jesus performed blessed some and enraged others. So did the miracles in His churches like the Corinthians. The lives we see transformed in our churches today are no less a miracle. That is why some of us Christians are now losing our jobs, closing some of our businesses and why we as a whole are being pushed to the margins of our culture by some. Our ideas are better, our Jesus is better and the script we have been handed calls for us to shut up, blend in, roll over and play dead. There is a problem with that.